I read a quote this week I like and believe to be true.  Here it is… “Nothing is fun until you’re good at it.”  Again… “Nothing is fun until you are good at it!”  If you’ll think that over, you will agree.

No one has fun cooking meals people won’t eat.  Golf isn’t fun if you lose 20 golf balls and score in the 120+ range every time you play.  When a person isn’t good at whatever they attempt, they won’t have fun.

Conversely… When basketball player averages 20+ points a game, he’ll have fun.  When a girl masters ballet, she’ll love dancing.  When a musician plays well… they have fun playing.  When a person is good at what they do… they enjoy doing it.  They have fun!  Fun begins when a person is good at whatever they do.

Okay… what’s the point?  To be good at something, you have to work at it.  Whether it is cooking, music, sports, dancing, or the Christian life… it takes work to excel.  And when a person excells (is good at what they do), they have fun (Joy).

How does a person become good at anything?  They work at it… they practice… they devote time and effort to getting better.  To cook well… you have to cook.  To play sports well… you have to practice the sport.  To play an instrument well… you have to play the instrument daily… for hours.  To mature in Christ, you the same principal applies!

No person grows in Christ by just sitting and listening to sermons.  Nor do they grow just by sitting in a Sunday School class either.  This may sound odd to some, but having fun (Joy, peace, contentment) as a Christian comes as a result of being good at Bible Study… Prayer… Giving… Witnessing… walking with Christ.  And the ONLY way to get better at those things is to DO THEM.

A seminary degree isn’t required because every Christian has the Holy Spirit in them that teaches, helps, and encourages this process.  The reason many don’t find the Christian life “fun” (Peaceful, joyful, contented) is because they don’t put the effort needed to grow in Christ.  And that isn’t normal… it isn’t proper… it is dysfunctional.  Consider Hebrews 5:11-6:3…

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits.